Tuesday, October 03, 2006

Ol' Man Winter

"Ol Man Winter, Dat Ol' Man Winter
He mus' know sumpin' - But don' say nuthin'
He jes' keeps rollin', he keeps rolling along!
Hammerstein and Kern (sort of)

Others have alluded to this. We have been feeling the pinch of winter's imminent arrival with our roof project. Steve had ground out all the joints in the parapet wall, but time was ticking and it's been raining ALOT lately, which has delayed the work getting done too.

So, we had to call in our heros from Miro Home Improvement to help him finish the parapet. They are not masons, but they did a beautiful job. And best of all- it's done and we can now have a real roof put on.


Look, a rebuilt chimney. What a sight for sore eyes.


Here you see a close up of the parapet wall rebuilt. Note the zinc plated metal rod inserted between the two courses of bricks. In case you're interested, this is to minimize seasonal movement of the top of the wall, which is prone to rapid deterioration due to the elements etc...

Our masonry consultant recommended this because the parapet wall is not very tall- only 6 bricks tall. Clay coping tiles will go along the top of the parapet.

I am really glad this is done. Every time it rains, I cringe because of our lack of a complete roof. We only have one layer on because this brickwork had to be finished. We should be getting our finished roof within a week.

I think I have nerves of steel after living with a temporary roof for 3 months now.

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

hi jocelyn - i've been reading your blog for months now (i also have a 2 flat in chicago i am *trying* to fix-up) and have really enjoyed this. thanks so much for sharing. and by the way, i couldn't agree with you more about finding the right tennants. my tennants of many, many years just left and it was hard - they were great friends and neighbors and wonderful tennants.

anyway, i was wondering if you could recommend your roofer \ another roofer? i have had a (flat) roof leak that i just haven't been able to fix and with that rain the other night, it showed me that it's time to call in a professional for some help \ advice. any recommendations or suggestions would be very appreciated. thanks again for sharing (and the place looks great! - i wish i had the energy of either of you two).

Anonymous said...

Hi Jocelyn,
I am curious what Steve used to grid out the mortar? Roof looks great, thank you for sharing.

Jocelyn said...

Anon- Thanks for the kind words. We used Matthews Roofing. They specialize in flat roofs. They are busy, so call them soon.

Trey: A 4 1/2" grinder with a masonry grinding wheel. We have the Milwaukee brand. FYI: If you are grinding out the mortar joints and your bldg. is made of Chicago Common brick (which is a soft brick), you should use type N mortar mix. It's the right strength for this type of brick.

Anonymous said...

hi, is that a power vent I see? what type is it and where did you buy it?

Jocelyn said...

That's our roof mounted fantech exhaust fan for our bathroom. The motor is on the roof so it is super quiet inside- we love them and put them in both bathrooms.

model number FAN-FD60EM